He saw Dick catch Tom from the back and start for shore, and then
like a flash the realization of his own situation dawned upon him.
He was on the tree with no means of guiding his improvised craft,
and sweeping nearer and nearer to the rapids of which he had heard
so much but really knew so little.
"I must get this tree to the river bank," he, said to himself, and
looked around for some limb which might be cut off and used for a
pole.
But no such limb was handy, and even had there been there would
have been no time in which to prepare it for use, for the rapids
were now in plain sight, the water boiling and foaming as it
darted over one rock and another, in a descent of thirty feet in
forty yards.
"This won't do!" muttered the boy, and wondered if it would not be
best to leap overboard and try to swim to safety. But one look at
that swirling current made
him draw back.
"I reckon I had best stick to the tree and trust to luck to pass
the rocks in safety," he muttered, and clutched the tree with a
firmer hold than ever.
The strange craft had now stopped circling, and was shooting
straight ahead for a rock that stood several feet above water.
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